[dated Jan. 29, 1913]
Prominent Tioga County Citizen Died in Buffalo on Saturday.
Last Saturday afternoon Hon. Chas. Tubbs, of Osceola, died very suddenly in Buffalo of heart disease, with which he had suffered for several months. He went to Buffalo during the holidays to visit the family of his son, Warren Tubbs, Esq., and it was then determined that Mrs. Tubbs must undergo a surgical operation for stomach trouble. This was done successfully on the 15th instant, and she is now convalescent. The ordeal, however, was a strain on Mr. Tubbs's heart and nervous system. He insisted that he was gaining in strength till the very last.
His remains were brought to Osceola for burial. The funeral was held yesterday afternoon, there being a large attendance of neighbors and friends and prominent citizens from all parts of the country.
Mr. Tubbs was born in Elkland township, now Osceola, July 11, 1843, and was a son of James and Anna (Gleasoon) Tubbs. He attended the common schools, Union Academy, and later taught in the same institution, and for a short time in 1861 in the Wellsboro Academy. He entered Alfred University and in 1863 Union College at Schenectady, and was there graduated in 1864. In 1865 he entered the Ann Harbor Law School, being graduated in 1867. He was at once admitted to the Tioga county bar and took up his residence at Osceola, where he has since practiced his profession and attended to other large business interests.
During the legislative session of 1869 Mr. Tubbs was transcribing clerk of the House at Harrisburg. He was an ardent Republican and active in county politics. In 1880 he was elected a member of the Legislature from this county and was re-elected in 1882. He served during both sessions on several important committees. Governor Hoyt appointed him a member of the Commission on Prisons. In 1879, 1883, and 1899, Mr. Tubbs represented Tioga county at the Republican state conventions.
During the deadlock in the Legislature in the winter of 1899 over the election of United States Senator, Mr. Tubbs was one of the candidates voted for against Senator M. S. Quay. That contest was protracted long into May of that year. The vote for Mr. Tubbs was considerably over 50 at one stage of that contest.
He served long and faithfully as a trustee of the State Hospital at Blossburg. He was a director of the Wellsborough National Bank during its existence. He was president of the Tioga County Historical Society and its chief moving spirit. He was also a member of the Pennsylvania Society Sons of the Revolution.
October 22, 1879, Mr. Tubbs married Sylvina Bacon, daughter of Ard Hoyt and Lucinda (Murdock) Bacon. Their only son, Warren, is a lawyer in active practice in Buffalo.
In 1894 Mr. Tubbs made a tour of Europe with his family and in 1905 he spent some months in traveling across this continent and along the Pacific coast.
At the Lycoming centennial in July, 1895, Mr. Tubbs was invited to be one of the principal speakers. He delivered an historical address relating to the northwestern part of her original territory which preserved much local history which but for his research would have been lost. He was president of the Tioga County Centennial Commission in 1904 and was the most active agent in organizing the Historical Society in this county, and has been the most diligent of its members in gathering and preserving local history.
He had a decided taste for research and the compilation of accurate historical data. He had collected one of the most valuable historical libraries owned by any private citizen in the state. Among his own published works are the histories of Deerfield, Knoxville and Osceola, in 1883; "Osceola in the War of the Rebellion"; the "Lycoming Centennial," in 1906; "The Pioneer of Tioga County"; "Little Journeys" in 1905; "Wellsboro and the Wells Family," in 1909; and his last work he read before the Historical Society last month on Tioga Township, Lycoming County, in 1800, which is yet unpublished.
Mr. Tubbs was a genial and loyal friend. His life was pure, his character high and his ability recognized by all who knew him.